Big Orange 2 Will Give West Little Rock an Inferiority Complex

We wanted to take a minute to break away from our hard hitting, internationally acclaimed news stories and talk about something very near and dear to our heart. Burgers. Earlier this week Big Orange invited us out for a sneak peak at the progress of the new location in the Midtowne shopping center.

If heaven had a burger joint it would be Big Orange’s new location in Midtown.

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The location is still shooting for a mid-late July opening, but they invited us in anyway for a tour of the construction to date. They are still working on many of the decor items and seating, but what we saw in still a very rough state has the makings of a wonderful place to eat. The restaurant is built around a very large bar, making it the focus point of the entire place. This is a very good thing because our two favorite bartenders, Lee Edwards and Dylan Yelenich, are teaming up for some new signature drinks to introduce with the new location. We know what some of them are, but can’t tell you yet. Trust us, you are going to like this.

In addition to the signature drinks they are going to offer over 100 carefully selected beers, including a number of those on tap. More importantly though they will offer the city’s first wine tap system, with four wines on tap. If you are a proper wino and have not had wine from a tap before you are missing out. I tried some in San Francisco earlier this year and it is exceptional. The system can keep all four wines at their individual optimal temperatures and keeps each perfectly aerated.

One of the coolest features is a burger loft which they have deemed “Burger Heaven” (including a stairway to heaven). This is a very large loft positioned over the bar, giving nearly a full view of the restaurant below. This should make for some of the best burger seats in the city. They have moved the shake making operations out of the bar, which should cut down on the noise and make for a better experience for both bar patrons and burger loft diners.

The restaurant is expected to seat over 175, they also have the ability to practically double the outside seating of the current location. A side section of the restaurant features a large garage door that can be raised to give those diners, and much of the restaurant, an open air feel. Speaking of outside, the patio features heaters and walls that can be put up in the cold months (similar to Local Lime), they also will be installing air for the outside section. They have the ability to match the air inside the restaurant, making it one of the only patio spots in the city you can actually stand to eat at during July, August, and September, which are the restaurant’s opening months.

Enough of me telling you about this though. Here are some quick shots from inside the restaurant. Big Orange has promised to bring us out again in a few weeks to check on the progress and try some of the new drinks.